Sri Lankan president urged not to use force on protesters
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
Associated Press
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — An international human rights group is urging Sri Lanka’s new president to immediately order security forces to cease all unlawful use of force against protesters who have been demonstrating against the government — for months — over the country’s economic meltdown. A day after President Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in Thursday, hundreds of armed troops raided a protest camp outside the president’s office in the early hours of Friday, attacking demonstrators with batons, in a move Human Rights Watch said “sends a dangerous message to the Sri Lankan people that the new government intends to act through brute force rather than the rule of law.” Two journalists and two lawyers were also attacked by soldiers.